A Softer Side of Serverus
by Oblivious Shadow
Summary: A young Snape and his friendship and rivalry with James and Crush on Lily Chap 3 is up but its mighty short,
1. Chapter 1

**All James**

James, James, James, James! When he looked at this boy all he saw was the James Potter of the past. One of the only two people he'd ever truly hated. Everyone had loved James, Serverus Snape was just jealous. All his life it's been oh hush Serverus, James is a lovely boy! But none of it was true. He knew, he'd experienced first hand what a terrible person James was. How many times had he been tempted to do away with Harry, spawn of James who was standing before him now?

"Professor."

He spoke tearing Snape away from his thoughts.

"What is it Potter, I haven't got all day, I'd sooner curse myself than spend more time than necessary with you."

He snapped, skilled at Occlumency he distinctly felt Harry think something along the lines of _same here_

"Well?"

He voiced not bothering to hide his disgust. Harry glared at him.

"Professor McGonagall wanted me to let you know that Malfoy'd been caught starting a duel in the halls and she expects you to give him a proper punishment."

"…very well, let her know I'll be there in a moment."

Snape said softly, and watched Harry's eyes as he walked away. Those brilliant green eyes were probably the only reason he hadn't killed the boy. Those eyes were the only thing about him that didn't come from James. Those precious green eyes were all Lily. Snape thought quietly as he went off in search of Malfoy.

Snape entered McGonagall's office quietly not in the least bit surprised to see Malfoy whose head seemed to have sprouted bat wings but he was a little surprised to see the youngest Weasley child sitting across from him. He raised his eyebrows curiously at her as he made his way to McGonagall's side.

"What happened?"

He asked sounding rather bored. Malfoy looked smug and the Weasley girl fidgeted.

"Harry, you were witness to the whole thing so you might as well tell us what happened."

McGonagall said curtly as she straightened her spectacles. Snape looked up; he hadn't noticed Harry in the room. He watched him walk over to Ginny and place a hand on her arm. Snape almost laughed, Harry was indeed just like James, not only in his disrespect of authority and unbearable arrogance. They also shard the same taste in girls, they both liked red heads. He didn't know if he could stomach this, it was like Lily and James all over again.

"Well,"

Harry began glaring at Malfoy.

"Malfoy was having a go at us then-"

"For no reason?"

Snape interrupted.

"What?"

"I said for what reason was Malfoy insulting you and Ms. Weasley, Potter."

Harry's eyes narrowed and his face reddened before he had a chance to answer Draco had butted in. "They were snogging in the middle of the corridor! As though I weren't already sick enough having to breathe the same air as a Weasley-"

"Out of line!"

McGonagall snapped sternly.

"Harry continue."

"Like I said Malfoy was having a go at us. (He paused to glare at Malfoy) and finally Ginny snapped and hexed him-"

"So Ms. Weasley made the first move? Thank you Potter you've made everything clear I'll-"

"Hinny hexed him but Malfoy called for a duel!"

Harry shouted, cutting Snape off, aided by an angry noise from Ginny.

"Is this true Malfoy?"

"Yes, but I shouldn't be punished when I haven't done anything yet. That mudblood Granger saw to that when she ratted us out!"

"OUT OF LINE!"

McGonagall roared as Ginny caught Harry around the waist to keep him from pounding Malfoy. Malfoy on the other hand grinned at the chaos he'd caused. He was just as much his father's son as Harry was. He held the same disdain for people as Lucius. Perhaps little boys couldn't help becoming just like their fathers.

"Minerva,"

"Serverus?"

McGonagall snapped, clearly annoyed with him for being such little help.

"I leave their sentencing in your hands; I have more important matters to attend to."

"Serverus! You can't just leave!"

"Goodbye Minerva."

He said dryly as he left the room and headed down to the dungeons and his private office. He pulled a large pewter pensive from under the desk and placed it upon it. He had quite a few memories to extract; he wanted to watch his years as a student at Hogwarts peacefully for one last time. One last time was all he had left, because tonight he, Malfoy and many other Death Eaters would take away from Hogwarts the only thing that had let it remain safe for so many years.

**A Beautiful Flower**

Platform nine and three quarters roared with activity. A scarlet steam engine waited for boarding passengers on the tracks, serenely billowing thick white smoke. An eleven year old boy stood in front the train in awe, he was small for his age and his long black hair covered his eyes giving him the impression of being a pushover. He looked around him at all the children bidding parents farewell, only the muggle born and himself weren't accompanied by adults. For a brief second he felt a twinge of loneliness but quickly dismissed it as he boarded the train. If possible, the train was even more crowded than the platform. Now his problem was where to sit? He searched for a place where he would remain unnoticed and came across many interesting people along the way. A red-head boy in glasses was busy harassing the muggle born first years about their daily home life, hanging off their words with awe unfathomable to the dark haired boy. Who on earth could find muggle life interesting? Apparently a red head girl next to the boy agreed with this idea because she kept nagging the boy with calls of –

"Arthur leave them be!"

Two boys sat in a compartment joking and laughing; apparently they'd known each other long before today. One was what you'd call handsome the boy guessed and the other had unkempt black hair. There was a third boy in their conversation but he didn't look as comfortable with the two boys as they did with each other, he seemed like he'd only met them early, but they'd gotten along considerably well and would perhaps become good friends.

"M-may I sit in here?"

The boy asked, feeling he could be ignored for the whole ride while the boys talked.

"Sure,"

Said the taller, handsome one.

"What's your name?"

Asked the second boy with the unkempt hair, the third boy just waved slightly.

"Serverus Snape."

The dark haired boy said as he sank with a soft thump onto the bench.

"I'm Sirius Black,"

Said the taller boy, the one who'd said Serverus could sit with them.

"James Potter."

The messy haired boy balled eagerly as he swiftly shook Serverus' hand.

"This here's Remus Lupin,"

James continues on jerking his finger twards the third boy.

"And there's one other bloke in here with us called Peter Pettigrew but he's off usin' the John..."

So much for being ignored, Serverus thought as James prattled on, he wanted to be annoyed but he wasn't. He couldn't help thinking he'd made his first friends. Shortly before the train pulled off a boy even smaller than Serverus walked in, he had mousy features and his eyes mad Serverus rather uncomfortable.

"See Serverus?"

James called.

"This is Peter, the guy I told you about."

"Hi! Wonderifwe'llallbeinthesamehouse?"

Peter talked fast. His entire sentence left him without him pausing even once to take a breath. Serverus turned his face to the window, thinking that there was no way this boy could be anything but a Hufflepuff.

"Betcha I'm in Gryffindor."

Sirius smirked.

"Same here! I'm probably the closest this school'l ever get to having the real Godric Gryffindor walk their halls."

Serverus took note of James arrogance and then thought _perhaps it's the playful kind, and not the demanding one._

"Yeah! I wanna be in Gryffindor too! I heard it was the best! Go Gryffin-"

"Hush Peter your giving me a headache."

For a moment all the noise in the cabin stopped.

"Hey Remus-"

Sirius began.

"What house do you want to be in?"

James finished.

"Well, I really want to be in Gryffindor but I'm not sure I'm brave enough. I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be that bad. How about you Serverus?"

He blinked upon being addressed then realized all four boys were staring at him.

"I-just…"

He went a little pink. He was stammering again, he wasn't used to talking to people.

"Anything but Hufflepuff!"

He said finally his face flushed as he held up clenched fists. Suddenly the other four boys started laughing heartily. Serverus stared puzzled, had he made a joke? Or was he the joke?

"Good one mate,"

James said casually.

"But what you really should be hoping against is Slytherin. Conniving bunch of rotters aren't they?"

"I guess,"

Serverus said softly, when in truth he couldn't find anything wrong with them at all. He wanted more than anything to become great! And he didn't care how he got there. Which was exactly why he didn't like Hufflepuff, how could you be great in a house full of rejects? As long as it wasn't Hufflepuff to him any house seemed a fair enough deal. The four boys remained rowdy and engaged in conversation, dragging Serverus into it whenever they thought he was drifting to far away from whatever they happened to be saying or doing. The train was halfway to the castle when the food cart came by. The five of them loaded up on all the sweets they could. Daring each other to eat strange colors in the Bertie Botts every flavored beans.

"Go on James eat it."

Sirius' voice dripped with mischief as he held out a bean that could either be green or yellow depending on how you looked at it. James, not being one to back down popped it in his mouth and grinned.

"Lemon-Lime."

He sighed, as he ran his hand over his messy black hair, the epitome of cool.

"Serverus next! Serverus next!"

"Me? I don't like candy."

He said bluntly, hoping it would get them to leave him alone.

"Oh, well, if you lack that much courage you can just set your sights on Huffl-"

"Give me a candy then. And don't call me a coward." Serverus' eyes flashed dangerously. James grinned and handed him a bean the color of brandy. Serverus was beginning to regret this. He didn't eat candy, too much sugar made him sick rather easily, but there was no way he would back down now. He popped the bean into his mouth and smiled as James had.

"It's cherry."

He said simply, not bothering to say more.

"Bet you're too scared to eat another… a handful…at the same time." James said holding out the bag. Egging Serverus on. He'd sensed it'd be rather easy to manipulate Serverus just because this boy with pitch black eyes that made you feel like you were tumbling down an endless hole was so eager to prove himself. It made it rather easy to make him play directly into your hands.

"I'm not scared!" He shouted, his face reddening. It was almost cute really, he was so small for his age and whenever he felt threatened in the least his face would burn red his pitch eyes hidden behind his hair that was equally dark. He snatched the bag from James and downed more than half of it in a split second, another second later he was coughing and choking on the beans. Sirius didn't try to get involved, Peter was enjoying the show, Remus was trying to help but failing and James was caught between his urge to help or to laugh. All of a sudden in a blur with deep red hair had entered the cabin and waved her wand at Serverus which made his coughing stop immediately.

"You okay? I was in the hall looking for a conductor when I heard you coughing; I'm Lily Evans by the way."

Serverus didn't have time to respond to the girl who was now holding his wrists. He didn't have time to glare at James for not helping him. Even if he did have time he wouldn't have been able to do all these things because as he stood there blushing only one thought was racing through his brain leaving him utterly defenseless. _Her names Lily…such a beautiful flower_


	2. Chapter 2

**The Birth of Snivellus**

Serverus continued to stare at Lily, his face burning. He was too embarrassed to stay put and too embarrassed to look away.

"You're like a deer in the headlights Snivelly."

James said with a grin. Serverus still said nothing, he didn't care that he had no idea how James had come up with such a nickname, he was more concerned with wishing himself invisible at that particular moment.

"How the bloody hell did you get Snivelly from Serverus?"

Sirius spoke his face miraculously looking non caring and puzzled at the same time.

"Snivellus actually,"

James said matter of factly.

"Snivelly's for short, you see you take the 'Sn' from his last name, the 'Ve' and 'Us' from his first and add the other letters from those funny sounds he made when he was choking. And added together we have-"

"Snivellus!"

Peter added cheerfully. Sirius grinned and Remus shook his head. Lily on the other hand wouldn't stand for it.

"Don't call him that! That's perfectly beastly!"

She said whirling on James, wagging her wand like a finger as if to say shame! He was about to tell her off then he looked at her and was rendered speechless. Sirius smiled, as he took note of both James and Serverus' current expressions. The year already looked interesting and the train had yet to reach the school.

"W-why shouldn't I call him that?" James asked of the girl indignantly. He didn't give a damn how pretty she was if it would make him look a coward.

"I'm sure he doesn't want to be called that, it's rude and sounds stupid."

At that moment she turned back to Serverus who had managed to escape the commotion and retreat to the safety of staring out a window.

"What's your real name?"

She asked him kindly, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"S-Serverus, Serverus Snape."

"See?"

She smiled,

"Don't you like that better than something stupid like Snivellus?"

He nodded slowly and didn't even realize that from that moment on he'd hate the name Snivellus just because Lily Evans had said it sounded stupid.

"Hey, listen were nearly to the school, we should get our robes on now so get gone Evans."

"Who are you to boss me around?"

"James Potter, a name that's not stupid at all. One day the world will know my name so you better respect me, now split."

James said grinning from ear to ear and Lily in spite of herself grinned back. Serverus noticed the small exchange and it was then that he had his first bad thought about James Potter.

**The Sorting Hats Decisions**

The Hogwarts great hall was gigantic. Never in his life had Serverus seen such a room. He opened his mouth to comment about it to James but quickly decided not to. He didn't want to appear the gawking loser.

"This is it; our houses'll be decided no, right in front of everybody."

James whispered softly to Sirius, Remus, Peter, and Serverus.

"All we've got to do is try on a hat? How disappointing…I thought maybe it'd be harder."

Serverus heard a girl behind him say, someone quickly answered her with a

"Don't complain!"

And then the doors to the great hall opened and the sorting began. Serverus was so busy trying to find Lily in the crowd he wasn't paying attention to the sorting. He only heard snippets of what was going on while he craned his neck to see Lily. A teacher named Professor McGonagall was reading names.

"Ludo Bagman…Hufflepuff!"

He still couldn't see Lily.

"Sirius Black…Gryffindor!"

Green eyes he saw, but none like hers.

"Grey Brown…Gryffindor!"

Her beautiful red hair, he couldn't see it.

"Deric Chang…Ravenclaw!"

Why couldn't he find her?

"-Crabbe…Slytherin!"

Had he imagined her?

"Lily Evans…Gryffindor!"

Serverus turned to the front of the hall quickly, and there she was. Her deep red hair and sparkling green eyes were glowing just like her smile as she raced to the Gryffindor table more skipping than walking. Before she sat she turned to spot him in the crowd and wave but as he readied himself to wave back James waved to her and she smiled and sat. Serverus' face fell. They could have chucked him out of the school right then and he wouldn't give a damn.

"Leroy Flint…Slytherin!"

"Gildroy Lockhart…Hufflepuff!"

"-Goyle…Slytherin!"

Serverus started zoning out again; strange images of him saving Lily from a monster filled his head, the monster always turning into a pitiful looking James at the end.

"Remus Lupin…Gryffindor!"

It was a stupid monster, not at all hard to defeat-

"Lucius Malfoy…Slytherin!"

-but when he finally got ready to finish it off Lily would run to the monsters side,

"Mark Parkinson…Slytherin! Ray Patil…Gryffindor! Peter Pettigrew…Huf-Gryffindor!"

And tell him he was being a beastly little prick. And than she'd stop and ask him what in the world did he have against-

"James Potter!"

Serverus whipped around to see James fitting the sorting hat on his head. James truly was an idiot, he looked arrogant even when his future was about to be decided by a raggedy hat.

"Gryffindor!"

The hat roared. James then made his way to sit between Lily and Sirius. Serverus on the other hand found himself with the sudden urge to be in Gryffindor. But before the urge could become his true desire he heard his name ring out before the school. Shakily he walked to the stool and put the hat on his head. It slipped down over his eyes and began to whisper to him. If wasn't so nervous he would have thought this cool. _Ambition, ambition, ambition._ The hat whispered to him._ You want greatness but that's not what you want most. You want many many things but which is top priority? What do you want with your entire being? To stop being a wimp? A pushover? To be great? To chase after a girl named Lily?_ At that Severus' face burned red and he fell backwards off of the stool. The laughs of the entire student body echoed in the hall and in an instant he felt murderous. He wanted raw power and courage and ability, so he could show them all. So he could prove to them that laughing at him didn't go unpunished. Still on the floor he was shaking with anger and as he stood the hat bellowed louder than it had all evening.

"SLYTHERIN!"

And instantly the crowd quieted. Somehow they knew that one day they'd get it for laughing at this dark haired, pale faced boy. And when they did…it'd hurt.


	3. Chapter 3

He silently made his way to the Slytherin table and seated himself away from all the other students, one hand in his pocket holding tightly to his wand. More for comfort than anything else. All through dinner he kept shooting looks at the Gryffindor table, they'd all ended up together, James, Remus, Sirius, even Peter. And Lily. Why was it that he always ended up the outcast? The only one to ever be by himself? He didn't eat any of the food in front him, he felt if he ate it he'd be seeing it again soon, only it wouldn't look nearly as nice as it did now. What should be an exciting day was turning into hell for him. As he followed the prefects to his house dormitory and went to bed, before he fell asleep he wondered if his parents the ones who had been too busy to see him off to school even missed their only child.

**Respect by Fear or Love**

Though the castle was hard to navigate Serverus found his way to breakfast rather easily. Perhaps the halls were only hard to navigate if you had a low IQ.

"Oi, it was hard to find it back here."

He heard a familiar voice say as it patted his shoulder, it belonged of course to James. He nodded his agreement to him then revised his theory; perhaps in fact it took no brain at all to find the halls hard to navigate. As expected a few moments after James had made his entrance in walked Sirius Remus and last and definitely least Peter, following like a loyal puppy.

"Sit with us Snivelly."

"Don't call me that James…"

"Whatever. Just eat breakfast with us, I guarantee you'll have better company than if you were to sit with your house."

He winked at Sirius when he said this.

"Yeah, tough brake, a pity you ended up in Slytherin."

"What's wrong with Slytherin?" Serverus asked innocently, he hadn't found anything wrong with his house yet. Though some of the older students were rather unpleasant, and this one third year girl named Dolores was enough to make anyone wish they were momentarily blind and deaf while in her presence.

"Think about in Snivel-"

"Don't call me-"

"Whatever, but like I said think about it, Slytherin's turned out the vilest witches and wizards the worlds ever seen. That what you want to be?"

"…If it makes people respect you, then what's wrong with-"

"People wouldn't respect you, they'd _fear_ you."

A new voice interjected, causing Serverus to look up into bright green eyes…Lily. He opened his mouth to respond but she spoke before he could.

"Wouldn't you rather have people love you?"

Sirius choked on his pumpkin juice and blinked at the girl.

"She has got a point Snivel-"

"James!"

She scolded.

"Err…sorry Evans, I meant Serverus. But like I was saying she does have a point mate. You should go to the headmaster and demand a house change."

"Dumbledore?" Sirius more asked skeptically. Now interested in the conversation in spite of himself, his dark eyes flashing with curiosity.

"He won't change it. The sorting hats word is final. You either stick with Slytherin or drop out of Hogwarts." Remus said softly, thinking it a little wrong that they were speaking as though what Serverus thought didn't matter.

"Wow! Has a first year ever dropped out before? You'd make history Snivellus!"

That was it, Serverus was livid now, the anger that had been slowly coiling within him had sprung, and he was getting rather tired of this _who_ were _they_ to stand around eagerly discussing _his_ future. He jumped up and glared at the four boys.

"DON"T CALL ME THAT!"

He roared.

"AND DON"T TELL ME WHAT I SHOULD DO! I DON"T GIVE A DAMN WHAT HOUSE IM IN AS LONG AS WHEN THE SEVEN YEARS ARE UP PEOPLE RESPECT ME!"

At this everyone in the hall turned to stare in their direction, he didn't care, though he'd stopped yelling he was still shaking with rage.

"Be it fear or l-love,"

He stammered slightly.

"I don't care, but they will respect me!"

After this sudden outburst he turned back to the stunned Lily and muttered

"S-sorry."

And quickly walked away.

"Hey…"

The completely unruffled Sirius started,

"You don't think he's got the hots for Evan's d'you?"

James whispered so only Sirius could hear.

"I think he does." Sirius answered plainly/

"No worry then, he's certainly no match."

Sirius grinned at James.

"So we've found ourselves a new game have we?" He said, his grin becoming positively evil.


End file.
